The Lawndale Factor 2: Children of the Evolution
by FAH3
Summary: Daria and friends now have to deal with who was pulling Magnus' strings.


I know it has been awhile, but a lot have things have been happening. But I'm now happy to post the first chapter of The Lawndale Factor 2. Hope you enjoy it.

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**LF2**

The Lawndale Factor 2

Children of the Evolution

**May, 2003.** Tom Sloane sat at one of the many tables inside what was considered the cafeteria at his college campus. Cafeteria hardly described the lavish setting. It was more like an elaborate food court from a Galleria that had been crammed into this tiny building. A Burger King, Chick-Fillet, McDonalds, and a combination of a pool hall and internet coffee shop were directly next door. For some reason, Tom always became depressed when he ventured to the coffee shop. Well, Tom knew the reason why. Every time he went in there, the atmosphere and dim lighting always reminded him of his ex-girlfriend Daria. The relationship was different, but he liked it. He liked her personality, even her pride that she used as a weapon in her writing. It just wasn't the same without her.

Tom was trying his best of course. His grades were excellent, but there might have been the fact that the dean was a family friend that could have also gotten him the grades. He had also made a few friends, but none like the two he made back in Lawndale. Some life he was having so far. College was supposed to be the funniest years of his life, so why was he so damn miserable so much?

"Hey Tommy, what's with the look?" a voice asked over his shoulder.

Tom glanced up to see one of the new friends he made at college. He only knew this person by their first name, but that was perfectly fine for him.

"Hey Lindy. How's everything going?" Tom asked as she sat down in front of him.

"SSDD. Who knew paying off only two courses would be such a bitch?" she asked as she sipped a cup of coffee.

"They don't call it a University for nothing." Tom told her as he took a sip of his drink and winced when he found out that the hot drink was now ice cold.

"What's with the Bitter Beer face?" she asked him.

"I've been daydreaming again. The coffee turned into cold sludge on me." Tom said as he got up to throw away the cup.

""Hey, wait a second." Lindy said and grabbed his wrist. She took the foam cup from him and glanced around the nearly empty room they were in. "Can you keep a secret? I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Lindy said with a wicked grin.

Tom was confused about what the blond woman in front of him said until her heard bubbling. He looked down at the cup she was holding with her fingertips and saw that a small ball of fire was burning in the palm of her hand!

"What the hell?" Tom asked as he saw the sight before him.

"Cool it, Tom. I know how to work this thing. I've been doing this kind of stuff since Middle School. It's easy as walking for me." She told the young student.

"What if someone sees you?" he asked her with a faint hint of fear in his voice. Not fear of being around a mutant, but fear of being caught. A fear a lot of people were beginning to become too familiar with lately.

"Cool it! Jeez, I know what I'm doing, Tom. It's not like I'm going to drop it." She told him. Famous Last Words to live by.

As soon as she said that to Tom, the foam cup quickly caught fire and started to burn. In the moment of surprise, Lindy dropped the lit cup. The flames from the cup quickly ignited the papers that were on Tom's desk, and soon engulfed his books and binder.

"Piss up a rope!" Tom cursed to himself as he saw the fire gaining momentum.

Many students were already gathering while half shouted to get an extinguisher and others yelled to call 911. Tom acted on pure gut feeling as he held up the palms of his hands toward the fire like he was trying to warm them. Soon, it looked like a North Pole wind started to blow from both hands, shooting pieces of snow and ice to the floor and other directions. The fire was soon out as what was left of Tom's things and the small table were now covered in a thick sheet of ice and snow. Tom lowered his hands and saw the small smirk that had appeared on Lindy's face when she saw what he had done.

"You little faker! I knew you were a mutant, but I thought your powers were something small! Man, talk about the Ice Man cometh!" she said as she laughed at her little joke. Tom mainly looked at all the students that were now slowly backing away from the pair. A few looked frightened while others looked either confused or really pissed off. Tom knew this was not good, and heard Lindy curse something to herself when she noticed the crowd. Tom was getting ready to try and do something with his powers when he noticed all the people stopped moving. Lindy didn't take notice at first, but Tom did.

He waved his hand in front of a few people while looking at others. Not one of them were moving, almost not breathing. It was like they had become solid statues.

"What did you do?" Lindy asked him.

"Hey, I didn't do this." Tom said, defending himself.

"_No, but I did."_ A voice said inside of their minds.

"Did you say something?" Tom asked her.

"That wasn't me." Lindy told him.

"_No, it was me."_ The voice said.

Both of them slowly looked around the crowd, trying to find the owner of the voice. They were soon met with a woman wearing a designer blouse with long auburn hair in a motorized wheelchair.

"W-who are you?" Tom asked the woman, not knowing what to make of her.

"My name is Professor Amy Barksdale, and I've been taking notice you two for quite some time." She told them.

"Y-you have?" Tom asked her.

"Yes. How would you like to come to a school where you didn't have to worry about reactions like this every time you used your abilities?" she asked them.

**

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Cashman's clothing and Accessories. The Mutant chapter of the Fashion Club were browsing through the store, giggling and laughing at some of the ensembles they could create. Unlike the Fashion Club in Lawndale, each member could voice their opinion without fear of being ridiculed or embarrassed. The leader of the group of teenagers was browsing through the blouses as the others were talking about which would go with what.**

"Hey Quinn, how about this yellow coat with these hot pink shades?" one girl asked as she held up the clothes she found.

"Don't know, Jubilee. I could see you in the sunglasses, but I don't know about the coat." Quinn told her.

"Yeah, you would blend in too well with the school bus." Kitty Pride said as she glanced though the earings.

"Hey, it's hard to find clothes that match and go well with your abilities." Jubilee told her friend.

"Tell me about it! Every time I teleport I can't get the smell of that smoke out of my clothes! I swear, I think it actually stains them." Quinn said as she hung a few clothes back up.

"How about being a living fireworks display? Everytime we practice, my sleeves get fried! I'm starting to look like a grunge punk rocker!" she said as she picked up a few shirts and glanced at them.

"Um, guys? Why did it suddenly get so quite in here?" A blond gir, known as Siren, asked them.

They all looked around and saw people were moving away from them, while others were looking at them like they were stray animals you found on the street.

"What are they all looking at?" Jubilee asked her friends.

"They're looking at us." Quinn told her friend, knowing why people were giving them these strange looks and faces.

That's when Quinn noticed a woman in he early twenties walking toward them, wearing a name tag stating that she was the manager.

"Excuse me, girls. I'm just checking on a customer concern. Am I to understand that you are all mutants?" she asked them cautiously, moving in the manner you would use when trying to get around a vicious animal.

"Yes, we are mutants. Is there a problem with that?" Kitty asked the manager.

"I hate to do this, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave the store for now. Some customer's are concerned about what some of your – abilities are." The young woman told them.

All of them couldn't help but feel hurt at the what the young woman had just told them.

"We'll just put these back then." Siren told the young woman as she started to put a pair of pants back on the rack.

"NO! No, just take them! Consider them an apology." The manager told them as quickly as she could. Kitty and Jubilee noticed how quickly the manager had made the last remark.

"We couldn't do that. We have money, we can pay for all of these. It's no problem." Quinn told the manager, failing to see the impatient look on the manager's face.

"Look you God damn freaks, just get out before I call security!" the assistant manager shouted as she marched up behind the manager.

Quinn and the others were visibly shaken by the harsh comment coming from the other young woman. Jubilee was trying to hold back tears and keep her hands from shooting off a round of fireworks that would have given the fourth of July display a run for it's money.

"Come on, guys. We don't want to buy any third rate knock offs anyway!" Kitty said as she threw the blouse she was holding on the ground and stepped on it as they left.

They could feel the looks of some of the other costumers as they walked like. Some of them looking at them with sneers and looks of disgust, while only a slight few actually had looks like they felt sorry for what the young teenagers just went through.

"Damn mutant trash!" a woman said, while she was holding her seven year old daughter away from the four teens.

"Come on, guys. Let's go se if any of the other stores have something better." Siren said as they walked away from the store.

"You guys can go on ahead. I think I'm just going to get a soda or something." Quinn said, looking distraught.

"Are you sure Quinn? Why don't we can come with you?" Jubilee asked her.

"No, I'm fine. I just need to rest for a little bit." Quinn told her friends.

"Okay. We'll all meet back at the school, okay?" Kitty asked her.

"Sure." Quinn said as she walked off.

Quinn sat at the table by herself, nursing a Cherry Coke. She liked the people she had met at her Aunt Amy's school, and she liked her abilities. It's just the one thing she couldn't get used to was the way that everybody hated her for just being born differently. All the remarks, the looks, and now being thrown out of her favorite store! Jane had told her it wasn't going to be easy, but Quinn didn't really believe her. She thought it would be like High School ever again, but she was wrong. This was the real world, and their was a large number of people who didn't care for mutants. Quinn couldn't help but start sobbing at this. She was feeling so hurt and alone, that she actually wished her sister Daria was home to try and help her. It was no secret they didn't get along, but maybe being a mutant could actually help them get along for once.

"Ma'am? Are you okay?" a man asked her.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! I'm fine! I'm fine! Just some mascara in my eye!" Quinn said as she tried to wipe away the tears from her eyes.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything. But I'm the manager of the mall, and I want to apologize for what happened to you and your friends for what happened at Cashman's a few moments ago." The man said.

Quinn looked up to see a man in his mid fifties, wearing black slacks and a light blue buttoned shirt with a black tie. He wore a bade with the mall's logo and a name with a photo of him on the badge's left side. He looked sincere, and he reminded her of the face of Mr. O'Neil from High School.

"Really?" she asked the old man.

"Could you could come with me to my office for a moment? I want to get your friends names so I can offer you a gift as an apology? Perhaps a one-hundred dollar shopping spree at a store of your, or your friend's, choice?" he asked her.

"Sure. Yeah, I think they would like that." Quinn said and walked with the old man.

"You know, you seriously should fire that girl at Cashman's. I mean, she was so rude! I don't know how anyone could get a job with that attitude." Quinn said as they walked through the mall.

That's when Quinn noticed the route they were taking was the way to the south exit of the mall.

"Out of curiosity, where's your office at?" Quinn asked the old man.

"It's right this way." The man said as he produced a silver device from his pocket, and jabbed Quinn in the back of the neck with it!

"OW! What the – the – hell?" Quinn asked as she started to become dizzy. Everything was getting fuzzy and spinning as she felt like she was going to be sick.

"This is Falcon one to Falcon four. Target has been apprehended, need backup and transport stat!" the blurry form of the old man said into his wrist watch.

Quinn could barley keep her eyes open, she was feeling so sleepy! She felt like she was being half escorted, half carried through the hall and outside. Before she knew what was going on, or what was happening, she blacked out!


End file.
